When I was invited to a Facebook event for Lib(r)a, my first reaction was: “Whoa, that’s a bold title. What’s all this about?” So, when I was asked to interview the director of the piece, Martina Georgina, and its rehearsal director, Rachel Calleja, one of my first questions had to be about the title.
“Lib(r)a is very clearly a play on words in the Maltese language,” I said to them. “What’s the aim of this?”
“Although a good focus of the piece identifies and questions the search for balance within us (the Libra part), the piece has many layers to it,” Martina says.
“The other part of the title is a Maltese reference, which, contrary to what many people may automatically assume nowadays, once bore a very female and maternal meaning that referred to the first milk the mother produces after giving birth.”
Martina encountered this word – which has, in time, been hijacked by the vulgar, male-related meaning – in an old Maltese dictionary that belonged to her grandfather, and it fit perfectly with the many references to the female that exist in the play. Surprisingly for such a strong title, it was not always meant to be the final one, as the storyline for Lib(r)a emerged through the rehearsal process rather than before.
“With Lib(r)a, we began rehearsals with three very different, yet interdependent parts of our characters as humans,” Rachel explains. “We explored the psychological characteristics of the Temptress, the Over Thinker and the Soother – the three characteristics that exist in each and every one of us – and how they manifest in the body and in movement.
“At the same time, we explored how these characters manifest themselves in relation to each other and to the objects around us,” she continues. “During these processes, certain moments left an impression on us, and they became the foundation and the building blocks of the narrative as a whole.”
A work that will take you straight into another reality where the truth changes from person to person
Lib(r)a, however, goes beyond the traditional dialogue-based narrative as it has no text or places. Its focus is on movement, images and sound that lead the characters – and, in turn, the audience – to explore the contradictions rooted within our thoughts and the delicate balancing act of combining emotion, desire, instinct and morality to form our characters and the way we see and perceive things.
“The starting point for Lib(r)a stemmed from conversations and sketches made with visual artist Matthew Pandolfino, about the possible ideas for a sculpture that had yet to be developed into what audiences will see in the piece. Its significance and presence had been infused into a speculation that I had developed about the many contradictions that are rooted within ourselves, which are similar to the three structures of the human psyche that Freud identified in his many theories [the ID, ego and superego]. This speculation ultimately served as Lib(r)a’s starting concept,” Martina explains.
Lib(r)a is not a concept in a vacuum, however; it’s the latest piece to come out of Teatru Santwarju (TS), a project which Martina started when she realised that the previous pieces she had worked on didn’t allow her to explore that which she, as a director, wanted to explore.
To help her turn her vision into reality, Martina also sought the help of Julia Camilleri and Althea Corlett, who will be joining her on stage; as well as that of production manager Stjanu Debono and of composer Mario Sammut, who was helped by Julia Camilleri.
“The purpose behind TS is to bring together individuals who find sanctuary in sharing and building on their imagined realities,” she says. “TS is now a growing project with the purpose of continuing to explore theatre as a loosened house for play. Through it, I intend to focus on making pieces that allow the people involved the freedom to share their experiences, fantasies and to build the work from them and with them.”
If all this seems a bit ethereal or inconclusive, but if it’s kept you wondering and guessing, then this piece is definitely for you. Fifty minutes in length, Martina, Rachel and the rest of the team have created a work that will take you straight into another reality where the truth changes from person to person. And while some moments are quite dark, even children could find the work relatable.
“There is a relief in seeing our frailty, pettiness and power represented on stage,” says Rachel at the end of our interview. “It is an opportunity to acknowledge our sameness in being human; an opportunity to relieve ourselves from the burden of thinking that you or I are the only ones who act in a particular way. A work like Lib(r)a allows you to see that we are all this way and that, ultimately, it’s still beautiful and acceptable in its own, bittersweet way.”
As a Libra myself, I know how difficult is to strike a balance, but astrology aside, that is a concept we all struggle with. Lib(r)a might just help us appreciate the struggle a bit more.
Lib(r)a takes place betweenNovember 3 and 5 at Valletta Campus Theatre.
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